Page 7 - 김연식 초대전 11. 27 – 12. 6 갤러리모나리자 산촌

From Nature to Humans and back to Nature: Search for Identity

- Jeongsan Yeon-Sik Kim's world of art

Kwang-Myung Kim(Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Soongsil University, Aesthetics)

1. The Artist’s artistic will and passion for life
As is generally recognized, I have always thought that an artist’s life and art are in an inevitable relationship, and I feel this is especially
true when it comes to artist Jeongsan Yeon-Sik Kim((靜山 金演植, 1946∼ ). This is because the artist’s artistic will and passion for life are
inextricably intertwined. Looking more closely, the artist’s world of art is first the home environment and atmosphere in which he grew
up, and then the influence he received while reading books as food for the mind, moving images, and music that touches his heart. This is
a force that greatly influenced the direction of life and art. Overall, his life is condensed into the process of Buddhist practice and the path
to art based on this, which appears to be a long search for the artist’s own self-identity.
He is a person with a peculiar career. As a monk who entered Buddhism at the age of 16, while training in Buddhist training center at
Haeinsa Temple, he took charge of the temple housekeeping and began recording unique temple foods handed down from temples
across the country. He collected and recorded various details of temple food unique to the region, and drew pictures of various
ingredients, including herbs and vegetables, used in food. Meanwhile, the cyclical order and harmony of natural phenomena he
encountered while traveling to temples across the country constantly inspired him to create. He never studied art properly at a formal
educational institution, but simply drew what came to mind as he went along with the brush. As an aesthetician, I was one of the many
guests who visited ‘Sanchon’(山村, temple food restaurant) on my way to see an exhibition in Insa-dong, that is a street of culture and arts
at that time. While talking with him, I was quite moved by his natural artistic talent, artistic will, and passion. His long-term interest and
study of temple food led him to the artistic insight. In the past, ‘taste(味)’ was deeply related to ‘beauty(美)’, and this is the same case in
him. For I. Kant (1724-1804), the systematic completer of modern German aesthetics, the standard for judging beauty corresponds to the
judging ability of taste (Geschmack, goût). This fact shows us great implications as an academic basis for aesthetic judgment.
In addition, ‘Rasa’ is a theory representing Indian aesthetics and means ‘sap’, ‘juice’, and ‘taste.’ Seeing that the delicate and subtle feeling
of looking at and savoring ‘taste’ is used as a standard for judging beauty, it seems like we are looking the essence of aesthetic judgment
that is in common with Eastern and Western aesthetics. Taste has a social nature that is shared widely beyond the individual level. This is
the same as beauty has social meaning. This is because beauty leads to the public goodness. The essence of art is the combination of taste
and style felt through the five senses. Furthermore, the ‘flavor’ we use on a daily basis comes from the ‘noble taste of food’ and also refers
to ‘being a wonderful and beautiful person.’ The taste of tea served in the process of practicing Zen(禪) is the state of one and the same
taste of tea. This means that the tea tasting practice and the Zen practice are not two, but one, and that they meet each other in the world
of awakening. It is also a passage where taste is connected to beauty. Jeongsan Yeon-Sik Kim, who excludes artificial substances as much
as possible and obtains food ingredients and ingredients as close to nature as possible, seems to have naturally realized the essence of
beauty, the ultimate value pursued by art, by examining the essence of taste.

2. ‘Symphony: Indramang’ and the development process of the series
He expressed the world of Buddhist immersion and desirelessness in the four exhibitions <Contemplation + Meditation> (2007-2011).
The five exhibitions <Gustav Mahler’s Mong-yu-do-won-do 夢遊桃源圖>(2012-2016) and the two exhibitions <Debussy’s Moonlight>
(2011-2012) clearly show that his views on music and painting are connected as one. He says: “Music, art, and even food have one root and
are connected by one stem. The fact that the terms volume, contrast, and medium are commonly used in these three fields proves this.
However, if you look at the works of painters who express music through paintings, they mainly use direct expression techniques such as
inserting musical instruments or symbolizing musical instruments. On the other hand, I think that the contrast between bright and dark,
long and short, light and heavy is enough to express music in a picture.” Thus, the contrast between the bright and dark of the tone and
the length and weight of the sound duration results in a series of works called ‘Symphony: Indramang.’
‘Indramang’ is a net spread out to surround Indra (Indrajāla in Sanskrit), the god of rain and thunder in Indian Vedic mythology, in a grand,
dignified and solemn manner. At the intersections, which are the connecting links of this network, there are jewel beads, which reflect

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